Hillsborough Street Violence Mars College Experience

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RALEIGH — A half-dozen men in their late teens or early
20s may be responsible for a series of Hillsborough Street attacks -- some
of them involving tire irons -- that are worrying merchants and N.C. State
University students. The attacks have occurred at 8 or 9 p.m., 2 a.m. --
and even in late afternoon.

On the night of November 12, two students and a third man were injured
in an apparently unprovoked attack at Hillsborough and Pogue Streets. One
victim, NCSU senior Joe Hall, 23, was knocked unconscious after being
repeatedly hit with a tire iron in the face and body. He lost several
teeth, was cut and bruised and has lingering damage to his right eye.

Hall toldThe News & Observerthat he would like the
assailants to be caught. "It makes no sense that a street a block away
from my campus is that deadly to walk on, that you've got to worry about
whether you'll get beaten to death. I don't know why the city of Raleigh
hasn't done anything about it."

The November 12 attack was one of several that have been reported along
Hillsborough Street recently. Some merchants say they have heard of four
assaults in the past two weeks, including one in which a woman was hit in
the head with a tire iron as she was strapping a child into her car in a
parking lot.

Hall said he has heard from people who know of nine assaults in the
past three weeks. In addition, the area has had a rash of car break-ins
but increased police vigilance is thought to be the reason for a drop in
reports of vehicle damage.

Raleigh police said few victims have filed formal reports of their
assaults.

A Hillsborough Street business owner, A.B. Ward, said he knows the
assaults are occurring, and right in the commercial area.

Some owners
feel it is cutting into their business, and say they have asked for more
patrols.

The university is on the south side of Hillsborough Street; shops and
restaurants line the north side and cater in large measure to students.

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